A Pledge in the Night
by soundestguitar
Summary: Luffy visits Nami in her sleep and makes a promise of protection. After Sky Island. Enjoy!


A Pledge in the Night.

It was late at night on the Going Merry, as it silently and gently cascaded down to the waters below, a soft breeze guiding it along the wayward skies. After the experiences of Skypiea had been done and dusted, the memories of the cloud lands forever inscribed into the Straw-Hat Pirates minds for the remainder of their lives, it seemed like the perfect chance for the young adventurers to grab some well deserved shut-eye.

As all that had put up a fight against the self-proclaimed and now toppled god lay down to sleep, one soul still remained awake, tiredness not having much power over him. The hero of the now freed skies and future pirate king, Monkey D. Luffy, snuck out of his hammock and mad his way out onto the deck of the drifting vessel. Along his way to his destination, he took this chance to look up into the starry sky.

Luffy: _"The stars seem a little closer than usual…maybe it's because were in the sky and all"._

Luffy's mind swimming with thoughts so much that if his brain had eaten a devil fruit itself, it would have drowned in itself. After finally taking his eyes off the glittering light-show in the sky, the straw-hat boy made his way over to the woman's sleeping quarters, slowly opening the door and sneaking inside, keeping in mind that one false move would mean certain death.

As he finally reached his target, he slowed to a stop, taking in the heart-softening image of his trusted navigator, Nami.

Luffy wasn't exactly what you'd call a Casanova when it came to girls, not like his charming ladies man and chef, Sanji (Well, to Luffy's standards, he was a ladies man.) But Luffy knows enough to understand when you like someone as a friend, and when you like someone just a little more than usual.

The next thing he knew, the knuckle-headed pirate captain was getting down on his knees and reaching out his hand to the red-headed girl's sleeping face. Cupping her left cheek, he started to rub his thumb across her skin, taking note on how soft and warm it was. To his pleasure, the girl smiled in her sleep, obviously enjoying the enticed attention.

Luffy: _"This is great! Nami looks so happy right now…this is how it should be…This is how __**she **__should be…"_

Luffy started to think back on all the times he's saved his navigator from certain peril. How he freed her from Arlong's grasp. How he saved her from nearly dying from a rare sickness that he couldn't even pronounce. And recently, how he saved her from becoming some loser god wannabe's play-thing. All these thoughts brought out the beast in the rubber-boy.

Luffy: _"Why does all this crap keep happening to Nami…It's always Nami! Dammit! What did she ever do to deserve such bad karma anyway! I mean, look at her! She wouldn't hurt a fly! Well, she hits me all the time…and she's always yelling at me and the others...and she's always swindling money out of all of us…but that's not the point!"_

_"She's kind, She's generous, she's heartfelt, she's always putting on a straight face when times are tough! She's always going the extra mile for the people she cares about! She puts herself on the line first, so that no one she loves has to get hurt, or worse! WHY DOES ALL THIS SHIT KEEP HAPPENING TO HER?!"_

It took Nami squirming in her sleep to make Luffy come out of his thoughts and realise that he wasn't stroking her cheek anymore and that he had balled his hand into a fist, gripping it with great intensity. He quickly and carefully placed his hand back on her cheek and continued to stroke his thumb along the side of her face, making her sigh with delight in her sleep, her smile coming back to her lips.

Luffy then felt a light-bulb switch on in his head and took hold of his treasured straw-hat.

Luffy: _"Nami, what ever else that's bad and tries to hurt you that may come our way …I promise…"_

He places his prized possession on his navigator's chest as she continued to slumber.

Luffy:_ "…I will always be there to fight it off! Again and again and again and again! Until it finally decides to call it quits!"_

Just at that moment, another light-bulb went off in Luffy's head and a warm, beaming smile came to his face as well.

Luffy: _"I'll always be there for you, Nami. After all, you're my friend…You're my navigator…_

He then started do reach his face closer to hers, keeping his breathing to as much of a minimum as he possibly could.

_Luffy: "…and also…"_

Once he came close enough, he gave the tangerine haired girl a small, quick but loving peck on the cheek.

Luffy: _"…Maybe something more."_

Feeling that his duty had been done, he slowly and as silently as possible, gets back up on his feet and tip-toes back out onto the deck, back into the mens quarters and into his hammock, quickly and surely falling asleep in no time at all.

The next morning, everything was normal as normal could be on the Going Merry, taking into the fact that the ship was still practically airborne. While everyone was going about their business, waiting to hit water, Luffy sat upon his special seat up the front of the ship, taking in the mind-blowing view. His trance in the scenery was cut-short after hearing the sound of his navigator's voice brought him back to reality.

Nami: "Luffy?"

Luffy: "Yeah, Nami?"

Nami: "Care to explain why your hat was on my bed when I woke up this morning?"

As Nami waved his much favoured head gear in her hand, Luffy began to sweat heavily out of pure fear. He forgot to take in mind what would happen in the morning when Nami would see his straw-hat on top of her in bed. Along with this, Sanji came bursting out of the kitchen doorway, slamming a heavy-eyed Zoro in the face. With his un-covered eye burning with flaming jealousy, Sanji began to bark at the poor rubber man.

Sanji: "Luffy?! You had better not have snuck into Nami's and Robin's room late at night for any reason, DID YOU?!"

Now with Sanji banging at his door, coming up with a convincing lie was even harder than it usually is for Luffy. But, in his time of dire need, a guardian angel had been sent to him in the form of the seventh and most knowledgeable member of the crew, Nico Robin.

Robin: "Perhaps the Captain wanted Miss Navigator to patch up his hat. After going through such a long and difficult battle and being so busy enjoying himself in the festivities of the celebration afterwards, he can finally get around to asking her to fix his hat. Perhaps so eager to have it repaired, that he brought it to her early in the morning. Would that be the case, Captain?"

All eyes were on the archaeologist, as she simply sat on her deck chair, reading one of her rare and worn tomes of history. Luffy was so flabbergasted by the help of his new cremate, he nearly forgot to acknowledge her 'deduction', shaking his head, up and down, franticly.

Nami gave a huff and made her way to the galley, no doubt to patch up her captain's prized possession.

Nami: "Next time, just come and ask me to fix it, okay, Luffy?"

Luffy looked on at the retreating figure of his navigator and smiled.

Luffy: "Yeah! I'll do that next time!"

Nami then cracked a devious smile.

Nami: "Good! And when you do, it will be a 10,000 berri payment, plus interest."

Luffy gaped at what he just heard while Nami chuckled devilishly under her breath. He couldn't help but second guess why he was in love with the red headed money pincher again


End file.
